


Camera, Camera (The Actor's Remix)

by Mara



Category: Smoke Series - Tanya Huff
Genre: Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:43:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1536326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/pseuds/Mara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An enchanted camera messes with Lee's best-laid plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Camera, Camera (The Actor's Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jibrailis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jibrailis/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Camera, Camera](https://archiveofourown.org/works/295024) by [jibrailis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jibrailis/pseuds/jibrailis). 



> This was a difficult remix to write, because jibrailis' story is pretty much perfect as is :) Some dialogue and most of the final scene are lifted almost directly from the original.

Lee probably should have been more upset about the spelled/possessed/enchanted camera videotaping them having sex. (Tony was clearly aghast, which was kind of funny to watch.) But honestly, Lee had done so many simulated kissing, petting, and sex scenes in his career, he couldn't quite manage to work up as much outrage and panic as Tony could. 

I mean, yeah, he could have gone his whole life without his coworkers seeing his cock, but y'know, it was hardly the worst thing that could happen.

Besides, he was too busy worrying and generally freaking out about his plan to come out to the press.

* * *

Tony sometimes forgot that Lee was an actor. Which was kind of crazy, since they met while _working on a TV show_ , but there you go. Tony was brilliant and amazing, but sometimes his mind got caught on a single track.

This meant that on the rare occasions when Lee needed to snow Tony about something (say, their plans for Tony's birthday evening) it was ridiculously easy. And so, when Lee presented a calm and determined face and announced they were going to come out of the closet to the press and public, Tony took Lee's calm at face value.

Underneath, Lee was a fucking mess. But if he didn't come out soon, it was never going to happen.

Lee could imagine it as clearly as he could envision Mason's ego one day exploding in a messy fashion. Lee would never let them come out of the closet and he'd be stuck at endless stupid parties with fake-breasted women hanging on his every word while Tony stayed home and ate microwave popcorn and watched black-and-white movies and one day Tony would get tired of it and leave Lee for a hot gay rights activist and then Tony and the activist, probably named Evan, would probably sit in the park and kiss right where anyone might see them and then they'd go back to their apartment and--

Never let it be said Lee had no imagination. 

All of which led to his current plan to convince Tony that they needed to sit down with a magazine or a TV show or...whoever Tony thought was best. And they would calmly explain that Lee was bi and Tony was his boyfriend and they would look adorable. Unless Lee fainted in terror. Or his mother refused to speak to him again. Or the fans freaked out. Or...yeah, there was the imagination again. 

So he was trying to negotiate with Tony about how to do this coming out thing, which honestly neither of them had any actual experience with, and Tony was hyperfocused on some voyeuristic camera. Things were _not_ going well.

And then they got worse.

* * *

There was a ringing sound and it took Lee an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize it was a cell phone and even longer to realize it was Tony's.

He smacked some part of Tony. "I think it's yours," he managed, groaning (and not in the fun way) as Tony clambered over him to get to the phone on the nightstand. Lee was tempted to drift off, but phone calls at whatever-o-clock usually weren't a good thing for wizards. Or anyone else.

"Hello?" Tony said.

Someone who sounded kind of like Amy said something and Lee frowned. Why would Amy be the one calling at—he squinted at the clock—four o'clock if something was wrong at the studio?

Tony fell out of the bed, dragging half the blankets and half of Lee's limbs with him, stumbling over to his laptop. 

"Link," Tony said, his voice sounding funny.

Lee lifted his head. That was definitely not a good tone of voice. More like a "world is ending...again" tone.

"Fuck," Tony said softly as he did something on the laptop.

"Tony? What's wrong?" Lee got out of bed and came up behind Tony, as Tony tried (and failed) to close the laptop. Which was why Lee saw just a few moments of something that looked remarkably like... "Is that—"

"Remember when I mentioned the camera was filming things it shouldn't be?" Tony said, high-pitched. "Um, yeah, so apparently it's also figured out how to upload to the Internet."

Lee felt the blood drain from his face (and a small part of his brain was trying to figure out how to duplicate the effect on command). "We need to get it off the Internet."

Tony poked at his cell and Amy spoke on speakerphone. "I've already e-mailed Megavideo and told them to take it down. They haven't replied yet."

"This is bad," Lee said faintly. He'd had plans. It was going to be careful, subtle...tasteful. He was going to have the most tasteful coming out ever and everyone would be happy.

Tony said something about taking care of it, but Lee was already trying to revise his plans on the fly. He had to...he had to...fuck, he had to call his mother. Tony was still talking, but Lee grabbed his own cell and started dialing. 

"Mom?" he said when she finally picked up, sounding groggy and alarmed.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"I...need to tell you something." Behind him, he could hear Tony getting dressed. "I...this isn't how I meant to tell you."

"Lee, honey, you're scaring me."

"I'm sorry. I, well, I'm gay. No, I mean I'm bisexual, for whatever that's worth. That means--"

"I _know_ what it means." Her voice was sharp. "I do watch Oprah, you know. And I've read the newspaper."

"Sorry." He sank down on the bed and buried his face in the hand that wasn't holding a phone.

"May I ask why you felt the need to tell me this at this time in the morning?" Her voice was back to being calm and he couldn't tell what that meant.

"Er, it's complicated. Really really really complicated. But basically someone got a video of me and...me and my...me and Tony."

"Having sex?" she asked sweetly.

Lee winced. "Yes."

"Is this someone blackmailing you?"

"No no! They posted it on the Internet. It'll probably be coming down soon, but the news is out now. And I wanted to tell you before you heard about the video."

There was a long silence and Lee could imagine his mother sitting at the kitchen table. "Sweetie, have I ever given you reason to believe I would mind who you loved, so long as you loved someone and they loved you back?"

"...no."

"So why don't you call back at a more reasonable hour of the morning and you can tell me all about your Tony and we can pretend this conversation never happened."

"Yes, Mom."

"Good night, dear." And the phone clicked in his ear.

Well, that could have gone worse. Of course, there was still the matter of an enchanted video camera and Tony...

* * *

Lee wasn't quite sure what to say to Tony. "It's okay" didn't cover it. "It's going to be okay" was a prediction of the future and Lee hated to make those considering how insane their lives were. "Please don't freak out" wasn't helpful.

The problem was solved when Tony seemed to be avoiding him, running away before he could ever get close. On the one hand, it solved the problem of coming up with something to day. On the other hand...what if this was what drove Tony away? Maybe he'd been reading the garbage some of the show's fans were saying about him now. Maybe Tony would realize that he didn't _want_ to be out of the closet with Lee, with the dangers of his wizardry being discovered and oh my god, why hadn't Lee even thought about that?

He had to find Tony and make sure he wasn't going to leave him.

* * *

He cornered Tony in the hallway outside the offices and dragged him toward his dressing room, ignoring all Tony's protests. But by the time he'd shut the door behind them, he still had no idea what he was going to say.

"So..." he started.

"So."

"Um..."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Tony asked very fast.

"What? No! I thought you were breaking up with me."

"God no."

Both of them sagged a bit with relief and Lee swallowed, really looking at Tony for the first time since the sex tape had been released. He'd been working nonstop again, probably not eating right, using all his energy on magic, and he'd probably lost 5 pounds in the last 24 hours. It looked like the dressing room door was the only thing holding him upright.

Lee reached out and brushed his hand across Tony's cheek. Ridiculous that he'd been worrying about everything else when he should have been taking care of his boyfriend. "This isn't your fault."

"The damn camera--"

"Still isn't your fault." Lee leaned his body against Tony's pinning him to the door. He had a suspicion that it didn't matter how tired Tony was...ah! He could feel Tony harden against him. "It doesn't matter. I wanted to come out and now we're out." He rocked back and forth, watching Tony's face relax and yet tense up in that adorable way it did when he was ready for sex. "It's done. It happened. Whatever."

"Whatever," Tony said, pushing back against him.

Lee leaned in, giving him a long sloppy kiss. It was done. He was out and he didn't give a shit what anybody thought as long as he could keep doing this with Tony. 

They would go to stupid parties together and make fun of the stupid people and then go home and have amazing sex. They would watch Tony's movies and eat popcorn and read scripts for Lee's auditions and then have sex some more, just because they could. They--

Tony pulled out of the kiss. "I've got it!"

Dazed, all Lee could manage was "Whuh?"

"The camera, I know how to destroy it!" 

Tony's face was lit with manic glee and Lee couldn't help grinning at him. "Go. Destroy. I'll be here."

And Tony ran out the door to make some magic. Lee slid down onto the loveseat crammed in the corner, still horny, but willing to wait. When you were dating a wizard, you had to make some compromises now and then. But it was worth it.

* * *

(Lee gave his first interview a week later, to _Out Magazine_. He showed up dressed in ripped jeans and a black t-shirt, and when he arrived, he smiled at everyone. The reporter sat up straighter, notebook at the ready, and Lee pulled Tony along with him to the two chairs that had been set up for them. A camera went off from the direction of the photographer; there was a bright light. Tony winced and Lee grinned at him.

But Lee knew how to do this, radiating casual comfort and easy charm. Because B-grade vampire detective show or not, he was an _actor,_ damn it.

"So I think we all know why we're here," Lee said, "and I think there's been some scandal with how I got here, but now that we are here, I just want to say..." He reached over and took Tony's hand. "Hey guys. This is my boyfriend.")

\--end--


End file.
